Baton Rouge police and fire briefs for July 9, 2014

Baton Rouge police and fire briefs for July 9, 2014

Livonia man booked in rape of 10-year-old

A 29-year-old Livonia man accused of inappropriately touching a 10-year-old girl and forcing her to touch his genitals on four occasions between June 2013 and April 2014 has been arrested.

The victim also told East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s deputies she awoke one time to find her underwear around her ankles and Jason Eric Vallet holding his cellphone over her, the arrest warrant says.

The victim’s mother said when she confronted Vallet about the allegations, he admitted to them, the warrant says.

Vallet, 8499 Bergeron St., was booked into Parish Prison on counts of aggravated rape as well as theft and theft of a motor vehicle from another incident.

Baker man thrown from motorcycle, killed

A 34-year-old Baker man died Monday night after his motorcycle ran into an SUV that moved into his lane, Baton Rouge Police said.

As a result of the collision in the 1700 block of Choctaw Drive, Travis Castle was thrown from his 2009 Suzuki motorcycle, Cpl. Don Coppola said in a news release. Castle, of 13828 Blairstown Road, Baker, died at the scene.

Officers responded just after 8:30 p.m. to North 17th Street and Choctaw Drive and determined that Castle was driving west in the outside lane of Choctaw Drive, possibly at a high rate of speed, when a westbound 2010 Mazda CX7 moved from the inside to the outside lane, Coppola said.

The 34-year-old woman driving the Mazda was taken to a hospital with minor injuries, he said.

Anyone with additional information on this case is asked to call the Traffic Homicide Division at (225) 389-7819.

Lightning strikes spark fires, false alarms

Severe weather that swept into Baton Rouge on Tuesday afternoon led to lightning strikes that sparked house fires on Kenmore Avenue and Destrehan Drive.

Firefighters were called to both houses within five minutes of each other shortly after 4 p.m., Baton Rouge fire spokesman Mark Miles said.

Firefighters responded to 878 Kenmore Ave. at 4:07 p.m. and found smoke coming from the roof, Miles said. Inside the house, they found flames in the attic and master bedroom, containing the fire before it spread.

In the other house fire, firefighters arrived at 6216 Destrehan Drive at 4:16 p.m. to find a similar scene — smoke rising from the roof and fire in the attic, Miles said. They were able to extinguish the fire before it spread.

Baton Rouge firefighters also responded to another reported house fire from a lightning strike, but it was a false alarm, Miles said.

St. George firefighters were also called out to two possible fires from lightning strikes that turned out to be false alarms, spokesman Eldon Ledoux said. One was at a business in the Essen Lane area and the other was in a residential area on Highland Road.

Some lightning strikes activate smoke and fire alarms because of the electrical charge they release, so fire departments received a lot of calls during lightning strikes, Ledoux said.

Authorities book six on suspicion of DWI

Authorities arrested at least six people suspected of driving while intoxicated in East Baton Rouge Parish and booked them into Parish Prison between 2:30 p.m. Monday and 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, booking records show.